"Spoilsport. Any other ideas?"

He looks at Sasuke. "Lightning's your best bet against the sand. Either your own techniques, or if you think you need something heavier, I can teach you one of mine."

"Depends on how thick she can make the sand, and how quickly she can renew it. The one I've been working on will punch through thinner layers and should have a one-twenty foot range, but will get stopped by something thick and dense enough."

"Her sand has been termed an 'absolute defense'. There is no indication is Sunagakure's records that she has ever sustained any sort of injury while on mission or at home. Additionally, her team completed the second exam in ninety-seven minutes with no injuries, a record in both respects."

"So probably I need more force than I can manage with my own."

"Overpenetration is advisable."

He nods. "Then I'd like to learn Kakashi's technique."

"Good. It's about time I passed it on to someone."

"Mhm. Thanks."

"You two probably won't get much out of it at this point," he says to Naruto and Chihiro. "It's a high level lightning manipulation."

"Yeah, I'm no good with lightning, at least not yet. Me and Chihiro can work on our match while you guys start? - I think Chihiro should win that one..."

"You do not wish to advance further?"

"I've got the fight against Neji and against you, but your fight against me is your first, and I think for promotion it's best if you win at least one fight? And then your second's against Sasuke, and Sasuke should win that to fight Elieyha, so that way me and you each get two fights to show off in. Sasuke gets four, but he won't really be able to go all out in any of them..."

"That makes sense."

"Yeah! And your sword's a good counter for my clones, anyways."

"If you yourself stay back, I can be less cautious with it."

"Yeah - not my usual style, makes the real me too obvious, but I'll definitely stay away from the sharp pointy bits."

"I could teach you a camouflage jutsu."

"Oh, that'd be really helpful, thanks! Probably not as much against Neji, but, in general."

"The byakugan renders chakra-based stealth useless, yes."

"Yeah. Gotta figure something out for him... Maybe something area of effect, or showing off my wind nature... I think I'd do well just out lasting him but that's risky."

"The Hyuga style is traditionally weak against long-range area effect attacks, as it is based on emitting focused chakra from the palm to target an enemy's weak point. They have developed a defense called Kaiten which creates a spherical shield of this effect, by rotating rapidly. However, this is difficult to perform and costly in terms of chakra."

"Thanks. So, something long range - that I can do multiple times in case he has that Kaiten."

"That would be one strategy, yes."

"Maybe a good first one to focus on, and I can work on backups later?"